The Guardians of the Sailor Senshi
by Yami Hime Hikari
Summary: [1 of 3] Silver Millennium fic. Queen Serenity decides that the Sailor Soldiers need their own guardians and the Guardians of the Solar Sailor Soldiers are created. This follows their creation and life during the Silver Millennium.
1. The Outer Senshi

**AN:** I will be using the terms/names "Earth" and "Golden Kingdom" interchangeably so you are all forewarned. All Sailor Senshi/Crown Princesses are named after the English names for their planets. I am going by the manga and in it when the Sailor Power Guardians are talking to the Senshi, they call them Princess Whatever-planet-they're-from.

**Planet Names:**  
Suisei: Mercury  
Kinsei: Venus  
Kasei: Mars  
Mokusei: Jupiter  
Dosei: Saturn  
Ten'ousei: Uranus  
Kaiousei: Neptune  
Meiousei: Pluto

**Characters in this chapter:**  
Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom  
Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom  
Queen Juno of Meiousei  
Crown Princess Pluto of Meiousei  
Crown Princess Neptune of Kaiousei  
Crown Princess Uranus of Ten'ousei  
Queen Queprur of Dosei  
King Thanatos of Dosei  
Crown Princess Saturn of Dosei  
Princess Titan of Dosei

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon does NOT belong to me. Anyone or anything that is not in the manga or anime is MINE and you must gain my permission before using. That means all the Senshi' families, Endymion's family, the Guardians, all servants, the King of the Moon, and miscellaneous people.

**CHAPTER ONE**

**The Outer Senshi**

Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium stared out at the castle courtyard from her bedroom balcony. Children of the guards and servants played down there within the palace walls, staying out of the way of their elders, but enjoying themselves completely. A command from someone's parent and the children would disband for a few minutes but would soon be back in their groups somewhere else, laughing and playing tag or hide-and-seek. Someday, she would have a daughter and her daughter would have that, although her playmates would be the Sailor-Senshi-in-training.

Smiling, the Queen looked over at her husband, fast asleep. He'd be leaving shortly after the fourth hour, when he usually awoke. He really was so lovely to her, even agreeing to leave for a few weeks while her Senshi were here. She knew it wasn't just a desire to please her that got him to agree so quickly: he was frightened by her friends when they got into tempers and avoided them at all costs whenever possible. Really, you would think the husband of the wielder of the Silver Imperium Crystal would be a little less skittish but…

A dull roar in the distance brought her back to the present: The Queen and Crown Princess of Meiousei were arriving. Serenity grinned suddenly at a memory as she turned from her balcony and headed toward the throne room in her white dress. She recalled quite well the number of tricks Queen Juno had played on her throughout their lifetimes. It would be hilarious if Juno played another practical joke while visiting, especially since she was supposed to have outgrown such things and be a good role model for her daughter!

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Queen Juno of Meiousei held a tight grip on her daughter's hand as they walked down the boarding ramp of the spacecraft. Pluto had a tendency to go running off when she saw something interesting.

"Mama, I want to go see the other kids," the six-year-old whined.

"Pluto," Juno chastised, "stop whining. The more you whine, the longer the meeting with Queen Serenity will take. Besides, you'll get to meet the Princesses of Ten'ousei, Kaiousei, and Dosei. You'll be training to become a Sailor Soldier with them."

"Mama, what's Queen Serenity like?" Pluto asked, twisting her moss-green hair around one finger as they reached the gates. She grew more nervous when a guard stepped forward to inquire about their business.

"She's very kind and beautiful," Juno told her daughter for the hundredth time since they'd left their home planet. To the guard she said, "Kindly inform High Queen Serenity that the Queen and Princess of Meiousei request an audience." The guard bowed and left the mother and daughter standing at the gates.

A few minutes later he returned. "Queen Serenity will see you now," he informed them.

Current Sailor Soldier and Sailor Soldier-to-be walked into the throne room where their Queen waited for them. Upon reaching the throne, both curtsied in their deep green gowns and straightened when Queen Serenity commanded, "Arise, both of you. Juno, you should not bow to me: we've been friends and equals too long for such foolishness. Princess Meiousei, if you are to train with the other Princesses of the Outer Planets here, you will be seeing me too much to curtsy every time you see me. Please don't, at least not here in private."

"Thank you, Serenity," Juno said as she straightened up. "How are you and your husband doing?"

The Queen of the Moon Kingdom gave a small smile. "We're doing wonderful."

"Crown Princess of Meiousei," Serenity called after a few minutes of small talk, bringing Pluto crashing from her daydreams, "may I know your name?"

"Pluto," she murmured shyly, looking at the tiled floor.

"Well, Princess Pluto, the other Princesses of the Outer Solar System should be arriving soon. Would you like to be here when they arrive, or would you rather Luna and Artemis show you to your room and I send them there when they get here?" Pluto thought hard for a few minutes.

"I'd like to be here please, your Majesty," she requested politely. "I want to meet my new friends."

"That's what we thought you'd say," a lazy voice drawled. Pluto looked around in alarm, searching for the source of the new voice.

"Luna, Artemis, come out and meet the Princess of Meiousei," Serenity commanded. Two cats, one black and one white, slunk out from behind the throne. The thing that shocked little Pluto was the crescent moon markings on each cat's forehead.

"But I was _warm_ back there," the white one grumbled. Pluto could've been pushed over with a feather when she heard a human voice coming from a _cat_.

"You- you- you can TALK!" she screeched. Serenity and Juno laughed as Luna replied.

"Yes, Princess of Meiousei, we _can_ talk. We serve the royal family of the Moon and the two of us shall help train you girls," the black one sighed. "My name is Luna and this furball is Artemis."

"How do you do?" Pluto replied politely. Artemis mumbled something and curled up at the High Queen's feet. Luna gave a distinguishable response just as polite and curled up next to her mate.

The two queens began to talk and discuss old memories that Pluto held little interest in, as she knew only two people in them.

Within minutes, she was fidgeting with her dress and hair, still holding her mother's hand, but very bored. Luna noticed the young princess' lack of attention and decided to do something about it. She hopped down from the podium where she lay at Serenity's feet and wound herself around Pluto's legs. Pluto jumped in surprise, then slipped her hand out of her mother's to scoop Luna up.

Pluto looked up at her mother, hoping for the woman to turn and look at her, her eyes begging. Queen Juno looked down, realizing her daughter's hand was no longer in her own, and saw the question in her daughter's eyes. She smiled her permission and Pluto, with Luna in her arms, went over in a corner to play with the black cat advisor.

Pluto sat cross-legged in a corner and would place Luna on some part of Pluto's upper anatomy and the cat would carefully climb back down into Pluto's warm lap. Once Luna managed to get there and not be pulled out again by eager little hands, she curled up and went to sleep as Pluto stroked her soft fur.

Soon a dull roar was heard that heralded the landing of a spaceship. In came the Queen and Crown Princess of Kaiousei. Both were very beautiful, their aqua hair cascading down their shoulders and matching sea-green dresses to identify their home planet. They curtsied to Queen Serenity at the same time and Pluto caught herself staring, wondering if the princess was a clone of her mother for just a moment before reminding herself that cloning was illegal and pulled her eyes away.

Once the introductions were over with, the Princess of Kaiousei hurried over to Pluto as her mother moved closer to the throne so as to talk and better hear her friends. The girls quickly got into a deep discussion about their home planets and barely noticed when the Queen and Princess of the Heavenly Planet entered and made their introductions.

They noticed the entrance when Crown Princess Uranus plopped down next to them and wanted to know their names. They told their names and quickly Uranus entered into a tale about her home where she only rarely had to wear dresses.

Once the tale was done, Pluto turned toward the mothers, wondering. The Queens were talking in low, worried voices, occasionally glancing toward their daughters or the main doors.

"What's wrong with them?" she asked her new friends. Before they could voice any opinions, Luna yawned and stretched in Pluto's lap.

"The Queen and Crown Princess of Dosei were supposed to be here about an hour ago," the cat yawned. Neptune and Uranus ogled for a moment before finding their voices.

"YOU CAN _TALK_!" they screeched, causing a moment of laughter from their mothers. So Pluto calmly explained to the others about Luna and Artemis as a messenger came in and spoke softly to the High Queen.

Moments later Artemis trotted over to tell the princesses the news.

"Princess Saturn and her father will be a few hours late, so we get to take you three to you room. Follow me." Then he and Luna vanished out a side door and the princesses followed them down the winding halls.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

What had delayed the arrival of the Crown Princess of Dosei? the girls wondered. Did her mother just not want to let her go? In reality, the case was quite similar, yet quite different.

Saturn of Dosei, daughter of Queen Queprur and King Thanatos of Dosei, had been waiting quietly inside the classroom reserved specifically for her. Her parents were late, the six-year-old realized. She was getting ready to go and try to find her mother when the doorknob turned. In came Queen Queprur, as though summoned by her daughter's thoughts.

"I'm afraid there won't be any lesson today, darling," the Queen apologized. "The Queen of the Moon Kingdom has decided it is time for you to begin your training as a Sailor Senshi. You need to go pack. The transport is leaving in an hour."

Excitement filled the young girl. She had always wanted to meet Queen Serenity and see the Moon Castle! She started for the door, a thought stopping her with her hand on the knob. "Will Titan come with me?" the violet-eyed princess asked. Her mother only smiled.

"We'll see. Now, go get packed." So Saturn raced down the halls to the rooms she shared with her twin sister.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Crown Princess Saturn had packed and was ready to go, holding a small bag she had refused to let anyone else carry. The rest of her things were on board already, as she should be. But she wasn't. She wasn't going anywhere until Titan came out.

But there was no sight of her clingy twin.

_Titan?_ Saturn called softly through her mind.

_'A'er?_ Titan's frantic voice came back, using the nickname she had for her precious sister. _Where are you? I can't find you and Mother won't tell me where you are!_

_I'm at the front doors,_ Saturn replied softly, calming her sister with her tone and words._ Didn't Mother tell you? I'm supposed to go to the Moon Palace now for my training. Mother said you might be able to come with me._

_Mother never told me anything!_ Titan shouted mentally._ I don't want you to leave! You can't!_ Then she ended the connection, though Saturn could still feel her sister's presence coming nearer with each passing second.

"Crown Princess," a servant spoke gently, "it's time to go."

"No," Saturn replied stubbornly. "I'm not going until Titan comes out. Unless she comes out, I'm not going."

"But, please, we're on a tight schedule—" the man protested.

"So go do your errands and come back for me later," Saturn told him simply. "Wouldn't that be easier?"

Then Princess Titan came running, screaming for her sister. Saturn turned and caught her crying sister, holding her close.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently. She was more of a mother to Titan than their birth mother was. So Saturn could act older than she was for her dark-haired twin when she needed to.

"I don't want you to go!" Titan wailed. "You can't! Mother'll be even meaner and I won't be able to talk to you! And— and…" Her words dissolved into more tears and incomprehensible wailing.

"You'll still be able to talk to me," Saturn reassured her sister. "Remember when I went out to one of the moons? We could still talk."

"But—the Moon Palace is farther away than our moons," Titan protested, clinging to her sister like her life depended on it.

"I'll make it work," Saturn proclaimed. "Remember how Mother said that your per- persistency is most important if you want something to work? Then she said stubbornness would work too, and we both have a lot of that." Saturn made a funny face and Titan giggled, recalling the memory. It was one of the few good ones she had of her mother.

"I still don't want you to go!" Titan protested.

"I have to," Saturn reminded her twin. "But I'll be back before you know it!"

"Fat chance," Titan muttered with a snort into her sister's chest. Then Saturn remembered the present she had hidden in her bag.

"Titan," she said gently. "I need you to let go of me for a minute. I need to get something."

"You're not gonna run off, are you?" Titan asked softly, her grip tightening on her sister.

"Why in the world would I do that?" Saturn demanded, her feelings hurt.

"Sorry," Titan mumbled as she let go. "But Mother keeps saying that you don't love me." A look of fear crossed her features and she clutched her sister again. "You _do_ love me, right 'A'er?" That Saturn might not love her like she loved Saturn was one of Titan's deepest fears, one that needed banishment on a regular basis which could only come from one source.

"Of course I love you," Saturn told her sister with a tight hug. She was not hurt that Titan doubted her love. It was only reasonable after everything their mother said about Titan being a worthless nothing with no one who could ever love her. It made young Saturn's blood boil just thinking about it. "You know that. Whenever you think I don't, just call me. I'll answer the moment I feel it. I don't care what's going on. If you need me, you _have_ to call, okay?" Titan nodded, then slowly let go, still clinging tightly to her sister's arm.

Saturn set her bag down and reached into it, pulling out a doll she had finished that morning. Giving it to her sister and seeing the joy evident in the other girl's expression, Saturn knew that all the blood and time she had lost to make this was more than worth it.

Titan took the doll from her sister's hands, holding it in both her own. It was an exact duplicate of either her or her sister, down to the black hair made from thread and purple dress they had been sentenced to wear. The face was happy, smiling even, and seemed to reassure Titan that everything was going to be okay.

"She's mine?" Titan asked in wonder, running her small thumb over the dress and face.

"Yep," Saturn grinned. "She's supposed to be me, so that if you have a bad dream and if I'm away and you call, you can talk to me and hug her. So it'll almost be like I'm almost there." Then inspiration struck her and she held out her hand again. "Can I see her for a moment? There's something I want to do."

So Titan gave her doll back and Saturn held it, closing her eyes. Titan felt the magic move from its resting place inside Saturn and a tiny portion go into the doll, filling it until the little thing shone in the magicked sight of the twins with the power of Destruction, Silence, and Healing.

Titan giggled and clapped her hands as Saturn gave the doll back, Senshi symbol blazing upon her forehead. Some people thought Saturn looked scary when that happened, but both twins thought that those people were idiots. There was nothing scary about a shining light, even if it was coming from somebody's forehead. Much scarier were the weapons people kept in their houses, like swords and glaives.

"I have to go now," Saturn reminded her sister gently.

"You can't!" Titan shouted, gripping her the other girl again, tears coming to her eyes. "I don't wanna be 'lone!"

"You won't be," Saturn reminded her. "You've got the doll, haven't you? And we can still talk."

"Not the same," Titan protested, on the verge of tears, as she buried her head into her sister's shoulder. "Not the same."

"Titan, you knew I'd have to leave someday," Saturn told her sister, trying to make her see reason.

"But I can't let you go all alone," Titan objected. "I wanna go too."

"You just can't let me leave you," Saturn laughed. Titan nodded, hugging her sister tightly, refusing to let go as she cried.

"But… if I don't go, I can't be Sailor Saturn," Saturn reminded her twin. "Then you don't get to know a celebrity."

"Mother's a Sailor Senshi," Titan responded.

"Not a sane one," Saturn retorted. Titan laughed. It was an old joke between them that only someone insane would love one twin over the other, especially to the extreme that their mother did.

Then Saturn pulled away and looked around to see her trunk right behind her and the ship long gone. Both twins laughed then, lugging the trunk to the office where their father was. He was a bit nicer than Queprur was and not as likely to blame Titan for Saturn not getting to the Moon on time.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

The Crown Princess of Dosei arrived just before sundown with her father, King Thantos of Dosei.

The Crown Princess insisted upon lugging her own trunk and smallest bag with her, refusing to let anyone else touch them.

"It looks like your daughter is a bit prideful," Queen Serenity commented to the Dosei King with a smile when they appeared in the Throne Room.

"Apparently," he sighed, catching the attention of the Queen of Meiousei, who went pale and seemed about to faint.

Saturn noticed this and immediately went over to her, leading her out of the room and away from her father.

The High Queen continued speaking with the Dosei King, keeping the attention off of the Meiousei Queen and Saturn.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"What's wrong?" Saturn asked Juno softly, looking up at the woman whose hand she held. "What did Father do to you?"

Juno hesitated, not wanting to tell this child of what her father had done, but knowing intuitively that Saturn would never give up. How could she explain in simple terms, without giving too much away?

"Your father… hurt me. A long time ago," she explained, softly and simply as she knelt down to child's eye level. "What he did… destroyed me in a way, and I've been scared of him since then."

"Oh," Saturn said softly. Juno had the feeling that Saturn knew and understood, though Juno had no intention of ever explaining what that bastard had done to her. "Is that why I like you so much? You're like a nice mommy and like part of me." Juno drew in her breath sharply. How could Saturn know these things? Yes, Queprur knew what her husband had done, but she had promised never to tell anyone. Thantos was not the sort to say these sorts of things aloud, especially to his daughter.

"Well, maybe," Juno admitted. "But… how did you know?"

"Daddy's scared of you," Saturn confided. "He told me on the ride here what you look like and that he's scared of you and said he was sorry for something. He wouldn't say what."

"Why…?" Juno wasn't quite sure how to phrase her question, especially with long-dormant memories and pain suddenly renewing themselves.

"You're a Sailor Senshi," Saturn responded simply. "You could kill him, if you wanted, and Mother would never try to stop you."

Juno had nothing to say to that, knowing it was true.

Saturn hugged her, then started crying.

"What's wrong?" Juno asked with worry.

"I miss Titan," Saturn mumbled. "I had to leave her behind to come here and she can't defend herself when something bad happens. She needs me and I left her all alone."

"Doesn't your mother help take care of Titan?" Juno asked.

"No…" Saturn replied, shaking her head. "She doesn't like Titan."

"Why not? She always used to love children," Juno asked in confusion.

"Titan won't become a Sailor Senshi," Saturn explained. "So Mother doesn't see the point of taking care of her."

"That's not right," Juno whispered in horror as she comforted the small child. Then she added in a normal voice, "What's your name?"

"I'm Saturn," Saturn said softly. "Who're you?"

"I'm Juno," the Meiousei Queen said with a smile.

"Then I'll call you 'Mama Juno,' " Saturn declared.

"Why?" Juno asked, taken aback.

"Because you act like a real mother and you've already helped me," Saturn explained simply, with typical six-year-old logic. Juno laughed at that, but agreed.

Then she led the girl to meet the other Outers-in-training.

**AN:** End of chapter. Next coming as soon as I can destroy writer's block. Anybody know the meanings of the Senshi's Japanese first and last names separately? If so, I need to know. And don't link to the website in your review. It doesn't work and the website is gone from the review. Which defeats the purpose.


	2. The Terror

**AN**: Second Chapter! YAY! FINALLY! (As some of you may be thinking…) I have defeated the dreaded writer's block! I am _so_ sorry for taking so long to update! Really! Ya see, as soon as I finished the last chapter, writer's block set in! I am so sorry! ;; Then there were three family birthdays, and St. Patrick's Day, and various other issues. /stares a calendar/ It's been over a _month_!

**Review Replies!**  
**Hoshiko Megami:** Glad you like it! Will you read my "Guardians' Return" fic too? It's set in 20th century Tokyo and is manga based.  
**Sailor Stella:** Glad you like it! Yes, I intend to continue to the end (whatever—and whenever—that may be) and have no intentions of EVER posting anything I will not finish, so… Anyway, glad you like it and reviewed. Here's the next chapter! Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.  
**Hermione1989:** YES! You read and reviewed! I have conquered and shall convert! Um… just ignore that last sentence… Okay, I know full well that you know nada about Sailor Moon (or the Silver Millennium, for that matter) so I'll summarize what basics you need to know so far to read this, though I'll continue to explain as I go, so I won't put anything I will explain in the story in this. The Silver Millennium is a little over one thousand years before the late 20th century Tokyo (About 1000 years ago…) People live on each of the planets (they're all solid, no gas giants like there are now, and Pluto's/Meiousei's atmosphere doesn't freeze at perihelion. Or is it aphelion/shrugs/ Oh well. The farthest point in its orbit away from the sun.)

**Lomesir:** Okay, I'll read the story. But next time you review (which you hadn't done for this story), please make it about the story/chapter you just read.

**Planet Names:**  
Suisei: Mercury  
Kinsei: Venus  
Kasei: Mars  
Mokusei: Jupiter  
Dosei: Saturn  
Ten'ousei: Uranus  
Kaiousei: Neptune  
Meiousei: Pluto

**Characters in this chapter:**  
High Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom  
Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom  
Queen Juno of Meiousei  
Crown Princess Pluto of Meiousei  
Queen Hlin of Kaiousei  
Crown Princess Neptune of Kaiousei  
Queen Aeolus of Ten'ousei  
Crown Princess Uranus of Ten'ousei  
Queen Queprur of Dosei  
King Thanatos of Dosei  
Crown Princess Saturn of Dosei  
Princess Titan of Dosei

**Disclaimer:** If it's in the manga, it isn't mine. If it isn't (like the Guardians, Senshi's families, various servants, the Queens' attacks as Senshi, and miscellaneous people), then it's mine. Note the people in (parentheses). They are all mine. Guardians are mine, no matter their form.

**CHAPTER TWO**

**The Terror**

Queen Serenity of the Moon sensed that something was wrong between her friends and the Dosei Princess' father. It wasn't until Juno had taken Saturn to the other Senshi-in-training and returned slightly shaken, after Thanatos had left to his temporary guest room, that Serenity remembered.

Little over six years ago, the King of Dosei had done something which would have spelled war and disaster for both the Dosei and Meiousei Kingdoms if not kept so tightly under wraps. Now the King of Dosei was not allowed to land upon or even be in the airspace of the planet Meiousei, upon pain of death. Not that this had been released to the public, of course. They would want to know the reason, and that would only cause war.

In the first month of the year, six years ago, in the second year of her marriage, Juno had gone to her chambers one night to discover the King of Dosei in there. She had no opportunity to cry for help, or to transform. He raped her that night, fleeing once the action was done.

Her husband was thankfully away that week, inspecting some part of the kingdom. According to Juno's later account, Thanatos was willing to kill her husband to get to her. It took her less than a week to get Juno to tell Queprur what her husband had done.

Queprur's reaction was one of rage.

If Juno had not gotten her vow that she would not kill her husband, Queprur would have tortured and killed Thanatos for his actions. All in all, getting him banned from the airspace and planet was getting off _very_ easy.

Serenity tried to get Juno to join in the conversation about their daughters and their training, to little avail. Juno was in her own world, remembering and despairing.

One thing that Juno had told no one, not even her Queen, friends (fellow Senshi), or husband, was that Pluto was Thanatos' offspring. She could feel it, even when the child was in her womb. She felt the familiar power of Time, mixing with the power she had only ever identified as Queprur's. The power of Death and Destruction, with none of the Healing or Rebirth powers mixed into it.

Juno had no intention of ever telling anyone this secret. Not even Pluto. Yes, the girl had the right to know, but… It was just too much to think about.

Shaking her head sharply to chase away the memories, she looked back at her friends.

"What's wrong?" Queen Hlin of Kaiousei asked, placing a hand on Juno's arm.

"Nothing," Juno replied, forcing a smile.

No one believed her, as the following silence made obvious.

So she sighed and explained, telling both of her emotions concerning Thanatos—still concealing Pluto's relationship to him—and of her encounter with the princess Saturn.

Her friends all comforted her and Serenity promised to get him off the Moon and back on Dosei as quickly as she could without being rude. If some… incentive… was needed, so be it. If it came in the form of a practice match with Sailor Uranus, well, all the better.

Juno accepted the idea of him having a practice match with Aeolus fairly easily. After all, if Aeolus wanted to have a practice match Queprur's husband as Sailor Uranus—more like beat him into the ground—it would take a royal command from the Queen of the Moon to stop her, which was something Serenity was unlikely to give.

Accepting that fact and the likelihood that he would go home bruised and bloody, Juno began an animated discussion with the others over their daughters and what they would be like when they got older.

No one noticed as Aeolus slipped out, murder in her eyes.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Saturn was busy talking to Pluto in their room, discovering that she really liked the moss-haired girl. Maybe she could have a real friend—aside from her sister. But her sister was still first and foremost in her life.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Saturn asked the Meiousei Princess.

"Nope," the girl replied, shaking her head. "My parents decided not to have any other kids after I was born. I don't know why. Mama said something bad happened to her when I asked her. But I have a lot of friends," she ended brightly. "Do you have any siblings?"

"I have a twin sister," Saturn said proudly. Then she added, "But I'm worried about her. She isn't supposed to be alone and she's all alone now that I'm gone."

"What about your mom and dad?"

"They're busy and don't spend time with her anyway," Saturn said dismissively. "I don't think they're going to start caring for her now."

"Your mom's strange," Pluto informed her. The Dosei princess just grinned.

"I know. I've known for years. Titan and I were beginning to wonder if she'd gone insane when we were born."

"Will we never know?" Pluto sighed theatrically.

Then Juno swept in and told them it was time to sleep. Pluto ran over and hugged her mother, asking for a bedtime story.

Juno saw the disappointed and lonely look that flashed across Saturn's face.

"Anyone else want a story?" the Meiousei Queen asked, looking at the Ten'ousei and Kaiousei princesses.

"YEAH!" they shouted.

"Then get in bed," Juno laughed.

The children climbed beneath the covers—with one exception. Saturn kept sitting on her bed, staring mournfully at Juno. So the Meiousei Queen sat down next to her and gathered the girl in her arms. Saturn snuggled close and refused to let go. Pluto looked surprised, but said nothing. She understood that Saturn needed comfort right now.

"Once upon a time…" Juno began. Listening to the woman's heartbeat, Saturn felt a wave of homesickness. Titan told her stories when she had nightmares. At remembering her sister, Saturn opened a link to her beloved one.

_'A'er?_ Titan called happily, feeling the link open.

_I'm right here,_ Saturn called back. _You want to hear the story Mama Juno's telling us?_

_Who's Mama Juno?_ Titan wondered.

_The Queen of Meiousei,_ Saturn explained. _Her name's Juno and she said it'd be okay if I called her Mama Juno. You okay?_ she asked, feeling the emotions flooding her sister. Saturn was just able to keep herself from breaking out in tears, and these weren't even _her_ emotions and she sure wasn't feeling them to the full extent that Titan was.

_Nnoooo…_ Titan wailed. _I miss you! The doll helps, but it's not enough! I can tell it things, but it doesn't answer like you do! And I wasn't sure if I could open up a link since you're so far away!_

_Didn't I tell you to call me if something was wrong?_ Saturn asked.

_But… I didn't want to interrupt anything,_ Titan protested softly.

_It won't be interrupting if it comes from you,_ Saturn assured her sister. _You're the most important person in the whole universe to me._

_You still love me, right 'A'er?_ Titan asked with fear.

_Of course I love you,_ Saturn assured her._ Nothing can _ever_ make me stop loving you. _Ever_. So stop thinking like that._

_I'll try,_ Titan agreed. _What was it you said about a story?_

So with a laugh, Saturn let her twin into her mind, letting her hear what Saturn heard and see what Saturn saw.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"Oh, Thanatos," a laughing voice called into the gym, both teasing and challenging. The Dosei King spun around, eyes widening with fear as Sailor Uranus strode towards him. "Would you like a match?" she continued. "I promise I won't use my magic." But the wicked grin and cold eyes guaranteed a world of pain.

"Um…" the king stalled, trying to find a way out without fighting this legendary warrior or seeming rude. Finally, he realized there was no way. He would have to fight. "As you wish," he sighed.

"Good." The woman's voice and eyes were like ice and Thanatos was glad when the artificial breeze caused Sailor Uranus' long blonde hair to cover her eyes for a moment. "Because the Queen has given me leave to challenge any and all whom I wish whilst I am visiting."

Thanatos' eyes widened in horror. Though he doubted the Queen had actually given this order, it wouldn't surprise him too much if the Senshi beat him into the ground and no one so much as batted an eyelid.

Preparing himself for a bad beating, he walked out into the center of the gym, noticing that every entrance was locked. He doubted anyone could get in except the High Queen, not did he believe anyone would hear his screams of pain that would surely occur in short measure.

Sailor Uranus came closer, a hungry look on her face and murder in her eyes.

He was right.

No one heard his screams of pain.

No one cared.

This woman could do everything short of actually killing him and everyone would turn a blind eye.

This woman was called "The deadly Wind Soldier" for a reason. He was experiencing that reason firsthand.

He didn't like it.

Did he have any choice in the matter? Nope.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Two days later, Queprur received her husband back in something that just barely fell short of a body cast.

She left him in this condition, though she had healing powers. She knew quite well from quite a few trademark injuries who had done this, and the reasoning was fairly obvious. Not that she didn't love him, the Dosei Queen just believed in taking your own medicine.

"I don't think you should leave the planet, darling," she drawled one afternoon while watching him fumble for the scroll on his bedside table, less than a foot away. "I believe that you'll get this treatment on each of the planets. After all, our motto is 'you hurt one of us, you get hurt by us all.' And we _do_ carry it out to the full extent."

"I noticed," he mumbled. One of the few things Aeolus _hadn't_ broken was his jaw. Well, she actually _had_, but she'd gotten a palace healer to heal it so she could hear him scream some more. That woman was the ultimate sadist.

"Actually, she's not," Queprur countered, as though reading his thoughts. "If Juno hadn't gotten my oath that I would neither kill nor maim you badly, you would have died shortly after I heard the news of your inappropriate actions. And it would not have been a pleasant one."

"I believe you, my dear," he mumbled. She slapped him as hard as she could. Considering that she could defeat Sailor Jupiter in single combat, it was pretty hard.

"I don't want you to call me 'my dear'!" she shrieked. "I want to change the past so I could have _killed_ you for your actions! You little bastard! Where was your honor! Your dignity! Your _sanity_? I'm all but ready to have Sailor Pluto come down here and use her 'March of Time' attack on you!"

Inwardly, the man winced. The 'March of Time' attack was used to age the victim to whatever age Sailor Pluto desired in mere moments. If she desired to have his body to age until it turned to dust and vanished, she could do so. If she wanted to change someone back into a baby, she could do it. Unfortunately, she could not go back any farther than just-conceived fetus.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

One month had passed since the maiming of King Thanatos. No one had said so much as a word about it; no one cared.

The four girls were safely tucked into their beds, fast asleep, even Saturn, who was still having problems adjusting. It was a good thing too. The huge clock had recently struck three in the morning, signaling that everyone had best be asleep and anyone—drunk or otherwise—found outside who was not one of the Sailor Senshi or the High Queen herself would find themselves spending the rest of the night in a jail pen.

However, this did not stop three young men from scaling the palace walls and entering the bedroom shared by the Crown Princesses of the four Outer planets.

Screams awakened the rest of the castle to the assassins' presence.

Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto raced into their daughters' room to find Saturn kneeling over a prone Pluto of Meiousei between the two middle beds while the other two girls tried to protect them. Saturn had purple power streaming from her hands on her friend's wrist to cover her whole torso, keeping any more blood from coating the floor or their dresses. The invaders were in front of the shattered window and moving toward the princesses.

"Heaven's Anger Strike!" Sailor Uranus shouted, thrusting a hand at the invaders. The very air turned orange and struck the forthmost black-clothed assassin. He fell without a sound, a small hole the size of a penny in his throat.

Almost immediately, the other two fell to successive, "March of Time!" and "Ocean's Embrace!" attacks. A globe of ocean water engulfed one man and drowned him, while a garnet dome encased the final assassin and rapidly aged the body until the heart was ready to burst in his chest. The one man left alive was too weak to move, much less kill someone.

"Are you all right?" the Scouts demanded, racing for the children. Uranus and Neptune raced for their mothers and clutched them close, obviously terrified. But Saturn did not so much as blink. It was as though they were not there. Then the mothers looked closer and saw that there were some bloody pieces of glass lying next to Pluto on the floor and blood was spilling out of her chest quickly.

"Pluto," Sailor Pluto whispered, sitting down hard on a bed, forcing herself not to faint. She demorphed, no longer having the will to fight, even if some enemy were to show up. Tears streamed down her face as she obviously knew the likely outcome. There was simply too much blood everywhere. So she went to investigate the bodies.

She found the three corpses, all in rigor mortis, lying in a pool of blood and shattered glass.

"Is this all my daughter's?" she whispered in horror.

"Some of it's theirs," Princess Neptune sniffed hiding her face by burying deeper into her mother's arms. "Some's Pluto's, and a little bit is mine and Saturn's and Uranus's."

"So… not all of it belongs to Pluto?" There was no mistaking the hopeful tone in the moss-haired woman.

"That's what she just said!" Uranus snapped, tears streaming down her own face as she gazed at her two still friends. She promptly received a scolding from her mother for speaking in such a way.

Suddenly, the power streaming from Saturn to Pluto weakened, growing dim and thinner.

After a while, the strands became thick again and the pale purple light became so bright it was hard to look at. Everyone released their breath without realizing they'd been holding it.

Saturn's eyes popped open after a moment and she immediately grabbed the bed just behind her. She didn't look at all well.

"Is—?"

"She's okay," Saturn mumbled, pulling herself up as Juno came rushing over. "She'll wake up soon and hurt a lot, but she's okay now." She knew that Juno heard, even if the woman didn't acknowledge it.

Then the High Queen swept in.

"Are you all all right?" she demanded, her cerulean eyes taking in everything in one sweep. Two princesses nodded mutely and the Queens also did so out of reflex.

"What happened in here?" Serenity asked as she knelt by Pluto and Juno who was watching her daughter with worried eyes.

The Kaiousei and Ten'ousei princesses spilled out the story: they had been sleeping when there had been this tapping sound. Because Luna had a tendency to decide to come visit them in her typical cat form and not be able to open the door, they had all become light sleepers. Before any of them had a chance to open their eyes, they heard Pluto scream. Her bed was closest to the huge window. Saturn had raced over to their unconscious friend and dragged her bleeding body away from the window and between the middle bed as the men had climbed in. Uranus and Neptune had gotten in the men's way when they tried to hurt the others and were standing in front of their friends when their mothers had rushed in.

"Do you agree with all this, Saturn?" Juno asked. When there was no answer, she looked up and found that her 'second daughter' had made her way back to her own bed and collapsed onto it, fast asleep. Of course, she was slowly slipping off the bed and onto the floor. Sure enough, a moment later they heard a thud as Saturn hit the floor. The girl didn't wake up, merely curling up in a ball for warmth.

Juno was going to go put her back into bed when her blood daughter moaned slightly and opened her eyes.

"How do you feel?" she asked Pluto softly.

"Everything hurts," the girl whispered. "But not like I thought it would. I thought it would hurt more than I could imagine, like it did at first. But it just feels like a dull ache."

"That because Saturn healed you," Uranus informed her friend, hiding her relief that Pluto had woken up. The High Queen looked shocked at this news and was soon up to date on the rest of what had gone on as Juno curled up to sleep in her mother's lap.

"Time for bed, little ones," Hlin said softly once the story was completed and their Queen's questions answered. She wanted her daughter and the other girls as far away from the bodies as they could get tonight. "Why doesn't everyone sleep in her mother's room? Or would you all rather room together and have us all check on you every five seconds?" This was said only half in jest. If the girls chose to room together, they really would be checked on every five seconds or so.

The three girls all chose to sleep in their mother's bedrooms, then Saturn was remembered, who was deep into an exhausted sleep on her bed.

"She can sleep in my room," Serenity offered, "seeing as how you all have your daughters, I'd hate for Saturn to be without someone tonight." Then she went over and shook the sleeping Dosei princess.

"Huh?" Saturn mumbled as she opened her eyes. "I wanna 'leep."

"You can sleep soon," Serenity assured her. "But right now you need to come with me, okay? We're going to get you cleaned up and a new nightgown, then you can sleep in my room if you want."

Saturn nodded, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Is Pluto all better now?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," Pluto told her. "Thanks. I'm sore, but I like this better than what I had."

"What you had made you scream," Saturn mumbled as Serenity helped her to her feet. "You going to sleep with Mama Juno?"

"Yep," Pluto replied before her mother took her out of there.

Saturn yawned hugely as the other Queens left with their heirs.

"Where we goin'?" she asked her 'mother.'

"We're going to my rooms," the Queen told her with a smile. "You're getting a bath and then you can sleep in my bed with me. My husband's away right now." Saturn nodded and followed Serenity down the hall, holding her hand.

About two doors down, Serenity noticed that Saturn kept stumbling.

"Something wrong?" she asked, stopping. Saturn just leaned against her leg.

With a smile, Serenity picked up the small child and carried the sleeping girl down the hall, only awakening her once the bath was ready. The girl had lots of blood on her body in addition to her stained dress.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Over the course of the next two months, the girls slept with their mothers—or adopted mothers, in Saturn's case. Saturn had adopted her friends' mothers as 'second mothers.'

When the two months ended and there were still no leads on who had sent the assassins after the children, Queen Serenity made a hard decision. If no one could solve this mystery by the end of the year—there were only four months left—then she would train more young women in addition to the Sailor Scouts to protect the Sailor Scouts. It would also give the girls more friends.

The entire Kingdom agreed that this was the best course of action and began to hunt down the minds behind the murder attempt in earnest.

**AN:** Well, that's it. Any questions? Anybody? If so, either review and ask them, or use the email thing on my profile. What do you think so far? Anything confusing you? What do you like most? Anything and everything, people.


	3. The Guardians

**AN:** Next chapter! Yay!

**Planet Names:**  
Suisei: Mercury  
Kinsei: Venus  
Kasei: Mars  
Mokusei: Jupiter  
Dosei: Saturn  
Ten'ousei: Uranus  
Kaiousei: Neptune  
Meiousei: Pluto

**Characters in this chapter:**  
High Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom  
Queen Juno of Meiousei  
Crown Princess Pluto of Meiousei  
Princess Charon of Meiousei  
Queen Hlin of Kaiousei  
Crown Princess Neptune of Kaiousei  
Princess Triton of Kaiousei  
Queen Aeolus of Ten'ousei  
Crown Princess Uranus of Ten'ousei  
Princess Miranda of Ten'ousei  
Queen Queprur of Dosei  
King Thanatos of Dosei  
Crown Princess Saturn of Dosei  
Princess Titan of Dosei  
Crown Princess Jupiter of Mokusei  
Princess Io of Mokusei  
Queen Eris of Kasei  
Crown Princess Mars of Kasei  
Phobos and Deimos of Coronis  
Queen Mikra of Kinsei  
Crown Princess Venus of Kinsei  
Princess Magellan (Maggie) of Kinsei  
Queen Akari of Suisei  
Crown Princess Mercury of Suisei  
Princess Marina of Suisei

**Review Replies!  
RyougaZell:** YAY! You're putting me on your fav's! Happy! Yes, this is a prequel. Thanks for the name info.

No. There is no _way_ I put down Meiousei King in the beginning. No _way_. (Pulls up Ch. 2, stares in shock at the little words.) I DID NOT DO THAT! I see I'm wrong. I did put down Meiousei. You're right. It should be Dosei. I messed up and you were the only person who noticed! Kudos to you!

**Hoshiko Megami:** Yep! And here's the next one! Thanks for the name info.

**Hermione1989**: Yay! You're reading it now! Free time is so wonderful, isn't it? I explained the whole time thing to you already, didn't I?

**Disclaimer:** Ain't in manga, it's mine. Includes parents and families. And attacks. See it in manga, ain't mine. Don't sue.

**CHAPTER THREE**  
**The Guardians**

The four months passed uneventfully.

The mastermind remained hidden.

So it was with a heavy heart that Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom summoned the other Queens, her own Sailor Soldiers.

They met in Serenity's personal chambers. Her husband, true to form, had decided to go on a tour of his large kingdom.

"What do you mean by 'guardians'?" Hlin asked.

"Exactly what the word means," Serenity replied. "Our girls have been attacked and nearly killed, even though our watch was alert. Even after four months, we still haven't found the mastermind, though the entire Kingdom is searching for them. If the girls hadn't screamed, we would not have known they were in danger until they had died. What I want to do is train some more young girls to protect them. After all, if our daughters die, then so will our future."

The Sailor Senshi stood still, taking this in.

In recent months, the rulers had been called on more and more often to fight. There were many revolts caused by people possessed by demons and invaders from other solar systems. The Outer Soldiers had spent more time fighting than they had ruling recently.

"But who would be the 'guardians'?" Akari, the Queen of Suisei asked.

"I haven't a clue," Serenity sighed, sitting down in one of the comfortable chairs spread around the room.

"Perhaps we could have family members be the guardians," Queen Mikra of Kinsei suggested. "A female, of course. If they are to guard our daughters, they will need magic. We could have a sister or cousin near their age fill the posts. That way the girls will want to protect our daughters, unlike the guards, who can be bribed to look the other way should something happen."

"I'll _kill_ anyone who did that to _my_ daughter," growled Aeolus. No one disagreed: they all knew it was true.

"But who will take the positions?" asked Juno.

"Does everyone have young female family members?" Queen Eris of Kasei quietly added.

Everyone but Serenity, Eris, and Queprur immediately made affirmative sounds.

"Don't you have a second daughter?" Juno asked her friend. "I was sure Saturn had a sister."

"Yes…" Queprur admitted slowly. "But Titan can not protect her sister. She never stands up for herself, and always cries and runs to Saturn if something happens, only gods know why. Titan has no useful skills, if any skills at all, and never realizes that Saturn has no desire to be trailed by the person who is keeping her back in her studies. But… Titan is the only female in my family near Saturn's age, so she is the only choice to be Guardian."

Juno said nothing, noting the drastic difference between Saturn's description of her sister and Queprur's of her younger daughter.

Soon she would find out which one was true.

"I don't have another daughter or any nieces," Eris said slowly. "But there are twins coming from Coronis who are about six or so. They've been chosen to protect Mars due to a treaty we have with Coronis. I'm sure they'd be happy to become Guardians. If, for whatever reason, they can't, then there's no one in my family who can become Mars's Guardian."

"I'm sure the twins will work out," Aeolus said gently, then added, "Perhaps we should have those we wish to become Guardians come here and stay for a month or so. We can give them rudimentary training, and if they can handle it and wish to be Guardians at the end of the time, we let them. We could consider it… a probation period."

All agreed this to, and they disbanded to contact the possible Guardians and their mothers.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Titan of Dosei was curled up in a fetal ball, vainly trying to protect her head and not cry, while her father kicked and beat her, screaming as he did so.

Thanatos did not lose his temper like this when his wife was home: Titan was her punching bag. However, when the Soldier of Destruction wasn't home, the younger daughter was fair game.

He finally stopped when a servant came in and announced that his wife was on the communicator. Per usual, the servant did not remark upon the beating of the six-year-old. The punishment for doing so was death. Only Saturn, Titan, Thanatos, and Queprur were allowed to discuss the behavior surrounding Titan.

Thanatos swept out of the room, leaving Titan where she lay. The servant looked at her pityingly for a few minutes while she gathered the strength to try and stand, and then also left the room without helping her.

Somehow managing not to cry out when she finally reached her feet, the young girl began to slowly head toward her room, where she'd be safe and could heal. Her left arm was broken and she was lucky nothing else shared that fate.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Saturn started crying and screaming in the middle of lessons, and no one could get her to stop.

"What's wrong?" Queen Serenity asked the girl, having come after the meeting's end to try and help calm the ebony-haired girl down.

"Titan's being hurt again!" Saturn wailed. "And I can't do anything about it!"

"What?" Serenity demanded. "Who's hurting your sister?" By now she knew about Titan, but not how close the two were.

"I don't know," the girl mumbled, suddenly stopping her screams. She kept to herself the knowledge that it was probably her father, having felt Titan's arm break.

Everyone watched as Saturn began to glow with dark purple power, her sign pulsing on her forehead. The teacher and Serenity quickly cleared everyone out of the room, fearing this was the beginning of Saturn's power awakening.

It was an anticlimax when, half an hour later, the glowing stopped and Saturn shakily got to her feet, heading for the door behind which the five others waited.

"What did you do?" Uranus asked curiously.

"I've never seen anyone do anything like that," Neptune added.

"I helped my sister," Saturn explained. "She got hurt."

"Did you help her like she helped you when those bad men came into our room?" Pluto asked. The children alone knew that the brightening of Saturn's power after it had diminished so much was Titan giving her sister her own power to use.

"Yep," Saturn nodded. "I help her heal when she gets hurt. She can't heal herself right. But she can heal everybody else right."

The four girls began to talk about the things they could do with their powers, while Serenity and the teacher tried to figure out what had just been said.

"So you and your sister lend each other power?" Serenity broke in a few minutes later.

"And heal each other," Saturn added. "That's very important."

"I'm sure it is," the Queen smiled. "Guess what? I think she's going to come visit very soon."

"Titan's coming _here_?" Saturn asked, eyes wide. Still smiling, Serenity nodded.

Saturn began to scream out her joy and dance around. Her friends quickly joined in, until they were all shushed by the teacher.

"I know you're happy," he lectured. "But that is no excuse for disturbing others. Now, come back into the classroom and we'll finish our lessons." With groans, the girls followed the old man back to class.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

By the next morning, there were thirteen new girls at the Moon Palace.

The nine girls who might become Guardians had arrived, as well as the Crown Princesses of the Inner Planets.

There were many joyful reunions, and lessons were forgotten that day.

Phobos and Deimos, the twins from Coronis, met Queen Eris and their charge, the three-year-old Crown Princess Mars. After kneeling to her and thanking her and her mother for the great honor, Mars flatly told them to stop that. She was their friend, not their master. When the five-year-old twins heard that, they tackled the girl to the ground in a hug.

Venus and Magellan were cousins, and glad to see each other, and Venus, thankfully for her cousin, kept calling Magellan Maggie, which was the girl's preferred nickname.

Mercury and her aunt Marina, who was only two years older, hugged and then started for their mothers, who would show them around.

Jupiter finally met her cousin Io, who was taller than her, and looked only slightly different from the Crown Princess.

Uranus got to see her younger sister, Miranda again, though Miranda would have rather stayed home, given a choice.

Neptune immediately began to criticize her cousin Triton's choice of dress, but stopped when the five-year-old gave her a big hug and said how much she liked Neptune's hair.

Pluto finally saw her aunt Charon again, after two years. They hadn't had much chance to see each other, but were already close friends.

But by far, the most energetic reunion was that of Saturn and her twin, Titan.

Titan tripped on her way down the spaceship's ramp and landed in a heap on the grass a few feet from the end. Her suitcase was thrown after her as the ramp closed and the ship took off.

When the girl got up, the adults saw that Titan had many, many, _many_ bruises and quite a few cuts. Before anyone could move, Saturn came rushing out from inside, and tackled her twin.

The two girls rolled over and over, laughing, until they hit one of the marble pillars. The girls kept laughing while the adults merely stared. The other children had already headed inside.

After a good while, Juno cleared her throat and the twins noticed their audience. They got up, but not until after Saturn had laid a glowing purple hand on her sister's arm, quickly healing the girl's many hurts.

Titan hid behind Saturn when the adults began to move towards them.

"I'm scared," she whispered to her sister. "They know Mother, don't they?"

"Don't worry," Saturn whispered back. "They're nice and _never_ hurt _anybody_."

"Really?" There was no denying the hopeful tone in Titan's voice.

"Really," Saturn reassured her. Titan stayed behind her sister anyway, just to be safe.

It took introductions, Saturn leading her around the Palace, and finally stopping in her own room to get Titan to calm down.

"What's wrong?" Saturn asked her sister softly, stroking her baby sister's hair.

"All these ladies know Mother," Titan whimpered. "I know you said they weren't like her, but what if they are like her when you're not around? I can't come in here and hide because it's their home and I won't be able to find anything for a while."

"What if we do this?" Saturn suggested. "Until you feel safe around here, I'll stay with you, okay? Wherever you decide to go, I'll come too. You like that idea?" Titan nodded enthusitically, then snuggled close to her big sister.

"It's nighttime now. Tell me a story,'A'er?" the girl asked sleepily a few minutes later.

"First let's get you ready for bed," Saturn told her. "I'll get ready for bed too, and sleep in here. Then I'll tell you a story."

"Okay," Titan agreed happily, pulling out two nightgowns from her suitcase.

A few minutes later, they two were in bed, Titan curled up in her sister's lap, resting her head on Saturn's shoulder while Saturn told a tale of magic and fairies.

Midway through the happy fairy tale, the Sailor-Soldier-in-training noticed that her baby sister was fast asleep. So, Saturn finished up the story and kissed her sister on the forehead, and then snuggled close, herself asleep in an instant.

**AN:** Yes, fluffy sister love in this chapter. /sighs/ I like the whole Titan-dependant-on-Saturn relationship, but that just may be me. Again, I'm sorry it took so long, but Chaos likes to eat my chapter when I try to type or post it. R&R, people!


	4. The First Day

**AN:** Hah, hah! The computer let me post Chapter Four!

**Planet Names:**

Suisei Mercury

Kinsei Venus

Kasei Mars

Mokusei Jupiter

Dosei Saturn

Ten'ousei Uranus

Kaiousei Neptune

Meiousei Pluto

**Characters in this chapter:**

High Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom

Queen Juno of Meiousei

Crown Princess Pluto of Meiousei

Princess Charon of Meiousei

Crown Princess Neptune of Kaiousei

Princess Triton of Kaiousei

Crown Princess Uranus of Ten'ousei

Princess Miranda of Ten'ousei

Crown Princess Saturn of Dosei

Princess Titan of Dosei

Queen Eris of Kasei

Crown Princess Mars of Kasei

Phobos and Deimos of Coronis

Crown Princess Venus of Kinsei

Princess Magellan of Kinsei

Crown Princess Mercury of Suisei

Princess Marina of Suisei

**Review Replies!**

**RyougaZell:** Yes, Thantos needs to die. Glad I inspired you.

**Disclaimer:** Ain't in manga, it's mine. Includes parents and families. And attacks. See it in manga, ain't mine. Don't sue.

**Dedication: **People, I'm dedicating this chapter to Princess Areanne. She shocked, inspired, and motivated me to write this before the day was over.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**The First Day**

The next morning, Saturn awoke to find no one lying next to her. Panicking, the Crown Princess opened her eyes to look around.

Her fear died down when she saw her sister by the window, messing with the thick drapes.

"What'cha doing?" she asked with a yawn, getting out of bed and going over to her sister.

"How d'ya make them open?" Titan asked, giving up and leaning against her beloved twin. "Maybe they won't open because they don't like me."

"Titan, they aren't not opening because they don't like you," laughed Saturn, finding the rope and pulling on it, thus letting in the dawn light. "Curtains aren't alive, so they don't have feelings or minds. See? Just pull the string, and it opens."

"So how d'ya make it close?" Titan asked from her position of safety inside her sister's embrace.

"I'm not sure," her big sister replied.

Then both their stomachs growled loudly, producing laughter.

"Wanna go get breakfast?" Saturn asked.

Titan nodded enthusiastically and followed her sister down to the breakfast hall, still holding hands.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

The twins met up with the other girls in the breakfast hall and chattered somewhat while stuffing the wonderful breakfast down their throats. Titan was nearly silent, seeming oblivious to everything but the food and her sister.

When breakfast ended and the Soldiers-in-training headed off to their classroom, Titan followed, still holding her sister's hand.

"Excuse me, miss, but you can't go in there," a reedy voice said from nearby as its owner blocked the classroom entrance.

"Why not?" Titan asked, confused.

"You are not a Sailor Soldier, nor are you going to become one," the teacher explained. Then he turned toward Saturn. "You may go in."

The elder twin did not budge.

"I said I'd stay with Titan until she feels okay alone," the girl stated stubbornly. "If she can't go in, then I'm not either."

"Princess Saturn, you need to continue your lessons."

"I'm not going anywhere without Titan."

The argument continued like this until Juno showed up, asking what the trouble was. They explained, and Juno suggested that Titan be allowed in "because it's her first day and she should be with someone she knows."

The teacher did not agree with the statement, but was in no position to contradict a Queen, and so, Titan was allowed to attend her sister's lessons.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"Where's Titan?" Eris of Kasei asked near ten that morning. "Do any of you know where she went?"

The Guardian candidates shook their heads.

"What's she look like?" Triton of Kaiousei wondered.

"Have you seen pictures of Princess Saturn of Dosei?" Eris returned.

Everyone nodded.

"She looks exactly like that," the redheaded queen explained. "Titan and Saturn are twin sisters."

"We saw her at breakfast," volunteered Phobos, the girl from Coronis wearing red.

"Yeah," her blue-clad sister added. "She was with the other girl who looked like her." The twins laughed as though sharing a private joke.

"Has anyone seen her since?" Eris wanted to know.

No one had.

"She's probably still with her sister," Serenity put in. "You remember how she was yesterday: she refused to let go of Saturn. Let's wait until lunch. If she doesn't show up, then we'll go looking. If she does, then let's just tell her that she has her own lessons that she needs to attend."

Reluctantly the other Queens agreed to this course of action.

Titan's probation was not starting out well.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

The teacher of the Outer Sailor Soldiers was _very_ glad when lunchtime came and his students took a break.

Why was that?

Titan of Dosei, not even an _actual member_ of the class, had corrected him when he accidentally contradicted himself and also appeared to have grasped the material before all but the Crown Princess of Kaiousei.

He was even more pleased when Saturn returned to the classroom an hour later without her shadow just as he resumed class.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Titan wasn't particularly happy about having to leave her sister.

Wait, scratch that.

She was upset, insecure, and terrified now that her sister was no longer within sight or physical reach.

Now unable to concentrate on anything but the lack of her sister, the younger princess of Dosei did not manage to impress her new teachers in lessons.

Midway through the afternoon class, Queen Serenity, who had noticed the silence emanating from the girl, came over to ask what was the matter, and Titan started crying even before the High Queen opened her mouth.

Discovering that having someone go near her only increased the girl's tears, Juno went to pull Saturn from her lessons for a few minutes.

Moments later, the Crown Princess of Dosei was hugging her sister, telling her that everything was okay and that no one would hurt her, opening their mental link and promising to keep it open for the rest of the day, and promising that if _anything_ bad happened that she'd be there the second she found out.

Titan stopped crying after that, but still clung to her sister desperately.

"Hey, I just said I wouldn't let anything bad happen, didn't I?" Saturn murmured, attempting to pry her sister's hands off her gown. "I have to get back to class, but I'll come find you the second it ends, okay? You okay with that?"

With a small whimper, Titan nodded and let go. _Who's Mama Juno?_ she asked silently._ You said I could go to her and she'd help me feel better when you aren't here._

_She's right behind us,_ Saturn responded. _The lady with the long green hair. That's Mama Juno. She's really nice. She'll take care of you when I'm not here, okay?_

_Okay,_ the insecure twin whispered back.

So Saturn took Titan over to Juno and made sure they were getting along and that Titan did not fear the woman before giving her sister a quick kiss on the forehead and leaving.

The lessons progressed much more smoothly afterwards, and Titan slowly began to recognize the letters repeatedly shown to her.

**AN:** Okay, guys, sorry, but this chapter was mostly filler. I apologize, and promise the next one will be longer and better.


	5. Training and Birthdays

**AN:** Here's the next chapter. Putting up all the characters is getting a bit annoying—and takes up too much space—so it is going /poof/ now. If you're having trouble with someone, feel free to ask.

**Planet Names:**

Suisei: Mercury

Kinsei: Venus

Kasei: Mars

Mokusei: Jupiter

Dosei: Saturn

Ten'ousei: Uranus

Kaiousei: Neptune

Meiousei: Pluto

**Review Replies!**

**RyougaZell:** I think age six is a little young for Saturn to be handling _that_ weapon, don't you? Glad you like it.

**Princess Areanne:** Glad you like this so much! You like reading my stories in the middle of the night, don't you? Well, because of me getting your reviews in the middle of the night, that's when I start writing. I do review replies because it always makes me feel so happy when someone replies to my review, whether in an email or one of these. /grins/ Yes, I know Titan's drastically different. She's six, not used to being parted from her sister's side, in a strange place, has horrible parents, and is subsequently scared of adults. How would you act/grins some more/ Don't worry, she'll be doing plenty of growing up soon.

**Disclaimer:** If it's in manga, then I can't say I own it. If it's _not_ in the manga, well, that's a different story, now isn't it/grins/ If it isn't there, then I own it. Me, Yami Hime Hikari. Ask before taking.

CHAPTER FIVE 

**Training and Birthdays**

The end of the day's lessons was signaled by the dinner bell.

Juno watched eight happy girls rush out of the room and was surprised to see that Titan hadn't budged, still staring at the letters on her desk.

"Titan?" the woman asked quietly. "Aren't you going to get dinner?"

"Nuh-uh," the girl replied, shaking her head. " 'A'er said she'd come get me, so I have to stay here."

"Does she always come to you when you're separated?" Juno asked, genuinely curious. When Titan was involved, Saturn always seemed so wise beyond her years.

"I came after her yesterday," Titan replied after a moment's consideration. "And if something happens to her, I go find her. The rest of the time, she finds me. 'A'er's can tell where she's gong better than I can. I keep getting lost." The young girl was still concentrating on the letters of the alphabet sitting on her desk, moving them around.

"Having fun, Titan?" a voice asked.

"Lookit, 'A'er!" Titan instantly exclaimed, jerking her head up and around to focus on her sister even before Juno had finished registering Saturn's presence. The girl was too quiet on her feet.

"What is it?"

Titan moved the letters around so they formed 'Dosei.' "Look! This is how to spell Dosei!" She moved the letters around again. "And this is your name! See? Saturn!"

"Wow," Saturn replied, obviously happy for your sister. "You learned all that this afternoon?"

"Yep!" responded Titan proudly. "After you came in and told me that nobody would do bad stuff to me. I couldn't think about it before."

"That's really good," the Crown Princess congratulated her sister. "It took me _forever_ just to be able to tell the letters apart."

"Really?" Titan seemed amazed.

"Yep. Let's go get dinner now," suggested her sister. "I'm hungry." Titan agreed instantly, but stayed to clean up. Saturn helped her scoop up the letters and put them in the bins Juno pointed out.

"You wanna come with us, Mama Juno?" Titan asked when they were done.

"I'm sorry," the moss-haired woman replied, hiding a smile. Titan was so cute sometimes, even if she _did_ have serious attachment issues. "I promised Pluto I'd eat with her tonight."

"Oh." Titan seemed slightly sad about this, but quickly perked up again. "Will you help me tomorrow?"

"Sure thing," the queen smiled.

Then the twins left for dinner, hand in hand.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"Titan," Uranus asked. "Why didn't you come back after lunch? Saturn came back without you, and then _she_ had to leave in the middle of lessons. She came back, though. Why didn't you?"

"I had to get my own lessons," replied Titan. "I can't go to yours too. Just mine. But," she added with a mischievous grin, "that means I can't help explain stuff to you that you don't get."

"What?" the Ten'ousei princess screeched. "Why not?" Before Uranus had asked the question of location, Titan had been explaining the addition problems to her in such a way that the ashy blonde girl was not likely to forget.

"I have my own lessons," the girl repeated, grinning at the shocked expression on her newfound friend's face.

Then Neptune said she'd help Uranus with the classes, and the conversation was over.

"I love you, 'A'er," Titan whispered, leaning against her sister.

"I love you too, Titan," Saturn replied, giving her sister a hug. "Aren't you hungry? Or do I get the rest of your dinner?" At those words Titan sat up and resumed eating, once again holding her twin's hand for comfort.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Juno was meeting with the other queens to discuss how the probation Guardians had done at their lessons that day.

"Phobos and Deimos comprehended things really well," Eris put in. "The only problem is that their control over fire isn't doing too well."

"I take it that the fire repellant charms were tested?"

"Yes, on everything from the floor to our supplies," Akari responded dryly. "Serenity, we're going to need more paper. I'm afraid I couldn't save that."

"It's all right," the High Queen replied with a smile. "One cannot expect a warrior of ice to be able to protect everything."

"All too true," Mikra drawled. "Now, back on topic. Our daughters. Who's next?"

"That would be me," the Queen of Mokusei answered. "Jupiter and Io are getting along very well, though they are a bit competitive. Nonetheless when they have practice matches, Io goes easy on my daughter. Jupiter is too inexperienced to realize it right now, though."

"Miranda and Uranus are the same," Aeolus laughed. "But Uranus is slowly catching on, unfortunately. The upside is that Uranus is helping Miranda with the class work, once it's explained to her, of course. All the girls really seem to be helping each other out."

"I've noticed it too," Hlin replied. "Both Triton and Neptune are smart and receptive, but are more than willing to help out the others."

"How are Pluto and Charon doing?" Serenity asked.

"They get along amazingly," Juno laughed. "Whenever they can the two are bonded at the hip, chattering about something or other."

"Does anyone know anything about Saturn and Titan?" the High Queen asked. Normally, Queprur would be in charge of seeing over that relationship, but the Queen of the Silent Star had been called home. Her husband had fallen down the stairs and injured his half-healed hip.

Juno spoke up.

"Saturn is very protective of Titan, and Titan seems happy and content when her sister is around. When we separated them on her first day, we saw what may potentially happen when we do. Titan appears very dependant on Saturn, but stands up for herself when she has to. However, she freezes around unknown adults, even though she mingles with the other children. From her aptitude in lessons, I believe she will become a wonderful Guardian for Saturn," Juno stated. "However, we will have to wait and see what happens."

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"You can't keep shying away and flinching, Dosei!" the training master bellowed. "What if someone really _was_ attacking you?"

_Then I'd curl up and wait for them to get bored,_ Titan thought to herself as she closed her eyes for a moment, searching for the calm place inside her. Once she found it, she opened her eyes again and met the staff flying at her face with her own.

Miranda's grinning face was inches from her own as the swords broke away from each other and connected again with a solid _crack_.

A loud and annoying bell interrupted the practice.

"Off to dinner, all of you!" the training master shouted. Nine girls sighed in relief and six staves soon entered the bin that was their home, quickly followed by three sets of magically protected suits.

"I _hate_ those suits," Deimos complained. The protective suit may've been very powerful and able to adjust to fit the wearer, but they were skintight and extremely uncomfortable.

"Well, _I_ prefer them to being roasted," Maggie retorted. She and the fire twins have been sparring using their magic, and no one's control was particularly wonderful.

Chattering among themselves, the three merged with the huge throng of people heading toward the Great Hall and their meal.

Titan stood next to the gym's doors, waiting for her sister. _You know I'm at the gym, right Saturn?_ she asked after a few minutes.

_Ack! I forgot!_ Saturn exclaimed. Titan could feel the undertones of her sister beginning to panic. _Mama Juno wants to talk to me. Could you go and save me a seat, Titan? Please?_

_Okay,_ Titan sighed, giving into her sister's begging as she started walking.

The seven-year-old felt lonely as she washed up in a bathroom before sitting down at the long table. This was the first time she'd walked around the Moon Palace on her own. She knew she would have to do it eventually, but on her _birthday_ of all days…

The girl wallowed in self-pity for a few seconds, but then shoved it away and began looking around for her sister. Saturn had said that she'd get there as soon as she could.

The Crown Princess of Dosei still had not returned when the High Queen swept in and got everyone's attention for the typical announcements and blessing before the meal began.

"Hello everyone," Serenity began. "I apologize for taking such time when I am quite sure you are all much more interested in the food before you. I only have one announcement. Today is Princess Titan of Dosei's birthday. She is now seven years old. I hope you will all give her the best of wishes."

As the silver-haired woman began the blessing, Titan looked down at her plate and blushed deep crimson to the roots of her hair.

"Did you like it?" a breathless voice asked in her ear. Looking up, Titan saw her panting twin sitting in the next seat. "I told Mama Sere that today was your birthday and that it'd be _really_ nice if she told people."

Giggling, the blush slowly fading, Titan wrapped her arms around her sister. "Thanks," she whispered. "It's the _best_ birthday present _ever_. Happy birthday."

Saturn grinned in response and the two broke away to dig into the food on the table and Titan turned the color of the sacred fire on Kasei as one after another person issued their congratulations and wishes for a wonderful year to her.

As soon as they could while still being polite, the twins excused themselves and wandered down to the library, where they stayed until lights-out.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"Neptune!" Uranus whined. "Why won't you help me anymore?" Neptune had been helping Uranus with the penmanship homework and math problems. The blonde could do and understand the math homework when Neptune was helping and explaining what to do. Now that the aqua-haired girl was no longer helping… Well, the assignment had turned into a jumble of nonsense.

"No. You ought to know by now," the Kaiousei princess retorted primly. "Keep trying. I'll help again after the next bell."

With a groan, the Ten'ousei heir returned to her labor.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

"Dei?"

"What, Pho?"

The Coronis twins were sitting side by side in the observatory, looking up at the stars through the dome as they talked.

"Saturn and Titan are twins, right?"

"Yep," Deimos replied.

"So why didn't Mama Sere say that it was Saturn's birthday too? She just said it was Titan's, and—"

"—Titan turned all red and just sorta nodded when people said 'happy birthday,' " Deimos finished. "Like she's not used to attention."

"Well," Phobos admitted. "She _does_ sit all silent in class and only talks to Mama Juno and Saturn in the classroom. Maybe her mom wasn't a good teacher."

"Or she lectured all the time," the other suggested. They both laughed at that and then groaned when the lights-out bell rang. The fire twins exited the dim observatory and headed for bed, still talking about the day's events.

**AN:** Yep, that's it. Sorry I took so long. What do you think? Yes, Titan seems to act a bit… OOC when she's in practice, but I didn't see another way to do it.

**QUESTIONS:**

**1)** What's your opinion? Confused on anything?

**2)** Who in the world is Kousagi? She's mentioned in a lot of fanfics, but I don't know who she is.

**3)** How can I find information on her?


	6. Mistakes

**AN:** I'm SORRY! I didn't MEAN to take four months! I SWEAR I didn't!

**Planet Names:**

Suisei: Mercury

Kinsei: Venus

Kasei: Mars

Mokusei: Jupiter

Dosei: Saturn

Ten'ousei: Uranus

Kaiousei: Neptune

Meiousei: Pluto

**Disclaimer:** I own only the Guardians and the families—minus Queen Serenity—of the Senshi. Nothing else.

**Chapter Six  
Mistakes**

"Bye, Mama Sere! Bye, baby!" Titan called, waving to the High Queen before racing down the hall. Queen Serenity stared after the seven-year-old. _Baby?_ What was _that_ about? Did Titan know something she did not? It was possible, given what the girl's powers were, that she could see if someone was pregnant. _I hope it's a girl,_ Serenity found herself wishing. The Moon Kingdom, as well as the other seven planets under Serenity's rule, was matriarchal, so the women ruled, rather than the men.

Making a mental note to ask Queprur about the twins' abilities to see souls, the High Queen re-entered her chambers to get ready for dinner.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Akari sighed as she entered the classroom. Quiet Mercury and her in-training Guardian, Marina, instantly began to babble out apologies. Really, she could not find the heart to blame the four-year-old or the six-year-old. Marina had only recently begun to explore the areas of using her magic beyond seeing other people's magic and testing if ice was thick enough to be safe. Mercury had only recently been told how to see magic using her own.

Truly, it was a miracle that they had only frozen over the room and had not also frozen every wire within the consoles.

That would have destroyed all use the classroom had, except perhaps as an ice box or storage room.

"Do you know what you did?" the Queen of Suisei asked patiently as she slowly used her magic to peel off the layers of ice, which coated every square inch of the room. It began to amaze her as to just how many layers the girls had made without a drop of training in this area—and how thin these layers were!

"Not really," Marina whispered, her sapphire hair sprinkled with ice crystals. "We were talking and something happened… There was a loud crash and a bunch of smoke came in the room. We got really scared, and I felt funny. Mercury's head glowed a little bit. Then there was ice everywhere and you came in. I don't know _how_ we did it. I just know that we _did_."

"How did the smoke get in?" Akari asked, truly worried. The room had no windows. Maybe one of the consoles had overheated? But none of them had been used that day, so how…?

"The door was open a little, Mommy," Mercury explained. "I saw the smoke start coming in. That's when we got scared. Did my head really start glowing?" she queried, turning to her playmate.

"Yep," the older girl said with a nod. "Right here." She put her finger on the middle of Mercury's forehead, right where Akari remembered the Suisei planet symbol glowing moments after Mercury's birth.

Had Mercury's Senshi powers been awakened?

The thought frightened the girl's mother, for the princess' control was chancy at best, even just for the latent magic the girl housed.

She murmured a prayer and knelt in the middle of the room.

"I was going to teach you something different today," she began. "But since you decided to do some experimenting on your own, we're going to learn how to peel off the ice and make it change forms. Ice is frozen water, you know."

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Queen Eris of Kasei groaned and began pounding her head against the stone wall. "Why me?" she moaned, all the while knowing the answer. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Phobos and Deimos were standing in the center of the room, draped in tongues of fire. The flames were like eager, little puppies before an indulgent master, doing everything to please.

Unfortunately, the fireplace was built back into the wall farthest from where the Coronis twins were standing.

"Phobos, Deimos," the Queen scolded. "Put the fire back where it belongs before I _pry_ it off you." There was an undercurrent of steel in her voice; she was _not_ to be disobeyed.

_Go back to bed,_ Deimos told the flames silently. _You aren't supposed to come all the way over here._

_You need to stay in bed,_ Phobos added._ You might hurt people when you're not in bed._

_But we aren't hurting _you, the fire retorted.

_We're special,_ Deimos answered. _Most people get hurt by fire. So go back to bed._

Grumpily, the fires slowly unwound themselves from the twins and retreated back into the fireplace.

"_Thank_ you," Eris sighed. "Now put the fire out and open the windows. We're going to air this room out and then the two of you are going to explain to the _entire castle_ why the halls are drowning in smoke."

The girls paled slightly and went for the water buckets. Their control was not fine enough yet for them to use their magic to put out fires.

"No more practice for either of you," the raven-haired woman added. "You're going back to studying theory."

The twins groaned as they doused the fire.

Reading textbooks was so _boring_.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Four-year-old Maggie of Kinsei sighed as she wandered through the halls.

Venus was busy in her class, learning how to count, so Maggie had no one to play with.

Everyone else had been paired off with a teacher for a special "practice" class, and she had not been paired off with anyone because her mother was sick and the Queen of Kinsei was taking care of something at home. The training master had looked at her for a moment and told her that she had the day off.

That had been fun… for maybe twenty minutes, when she realized that _everyone_ else was in lessons.

Her attention was caught by the murmuring of voices in the shadowy corner at the end of the corridor.

_Two voices,_ she decided. _One man and one woman. They're looking for somewhere more private than the hall._ Why, Maggie could not tell. Her ears could not make out any words; only the rising and falling of the voices: it was her magic feeding her this information.

Tiptoeing down the hall until she could just make out the two people in the shadows, she concentrated on that fizzing in her bones she had come to call her magic. _You have the power of Love,_ she remembered her mother telling her. Shuddering slightly from the effort of keeping her magic from bursting out of her skin, Maggie sent a thin thread of her power down to the couple and wrapped it around them.

_Go to your room,_ she told them silently. _Your room is private. No one will look for you there in the middle of the day._ It seemed that the couple had gotten her message as the man murmured this into his partner's ear. Maggie carefully strained to unwind the chain connecting her to the couple and pull her magic back inside her skin.

Succeeding as the man's door clicked shut, the young girl sat down and pressed her hands against her temples.

_Stay inside,_ she begged her power._ Stay inside me. Go back to sleep. Those people don't need your help anymore. They have their own Love. Go back to sleep._

But her power refused to obey.

It got louder and more insistent, screaming inside her, pounding against her control as she tried to force it back into its resting place.

The child did not notice as a scream ripped itself from her throat, so overwhelmed was she by the flood of power she was fighting.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Saturn and Titan, having finished their afternoon lessons early, were talking to Aeolus by the gym when they heard the screams.

"It's Maggie," Titan said instantly, her face paling.

Neither Saturn nor Aeolus questioned this: the time for inquiries was later.

The three girls raced toward the source of the screams, the two children quickly falling behind the Senshi of Wind.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

**AN:** Um… What do you think? Am I forgiven for taking so long? Is this good?


	7. Awakening

**AN:** Hope you guys like this chapter! I'm sorry I took over a year to do this!

**Disclaimer:** I own Guardians and the Senshi's families. That's _IT_.

**CHAPTER SEVEN**  
**Awakening**

"Io?" Jupiter asked worriedly. "Are you sick?"

The girl in question nodded, tears running down her face. Jupiter quickly fetched a bucket and the taller girl barely managed to get her head over it before the vomit came.

Jupiter bit her lip, deeply concerned. Mother had said something about Io being an empath, she remembered. Whatever that was.

"Maggie," Io mumbled into the bucket a few minutes later, once her stomach had finished disposing of its contents. "Something's hurting Maggie."

"I'm gonna go get a healer," Jupiter informed her cousin. "So we can find out why you're sick." She got up and headed for the door, only to be stopped by a surprisingly strong grip on her wrist.

"It's a'cause something's hurting Maggie," Io explained, her voice shockingly patient. "And stop being so worried. I don't wanna get sick again." She gestured toward the bucket in her lap.

"Why would you get sick because I'm worried?" the Senshi-in-training asked, curious.

"A'cause _I _feel it," her future Guardian explained. "Other people's emotions make me sick, if they're strong…or close."

"So… a healer won't help?" Jupiter asked, starting to vaguely understand what her cousin was going through.

"Right. But will you go find Maggie for me?" Io asked hopefully. "I wanna find out what's wrong, but I can't get any closer until she's okay."

"Okay," Jupiter replied, "I'll go find Maggie." With a quick hug for her ill cousin, she rushed out the door.

That was when she heard the screaming.

±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±

Sailor Uranus rounded the corner far ahead of the Dosei twins.

When she realized what she was seeing—and her mind slowed enough for the effects to hit her—the "Deadly Wind Senshi" was extremely grateful for this fact.

The sight that met her eyes was that of the Awakening of Kinsei's Guardian.

The little four-year-old was lying on the floor, screaming and thrashing, the symbol of Kinsei—so often acquainted with the planet's Sailor Senshi—blazing gold upon her forehead.

The blonde squinted, thinking there was something else there too, but quickly gave up her attempt. The light was growing too bright to look at, let alone identify the symbol at its source.

"Wind Bindings," she whispered.

Suddenly, the still air was rapidly rushing down and back up the corridor, slamming doors shut and ensuing that the Wind Senshi and the Awakening Guardian were the only ones in the hall. Best to minimize possible casualties.

"Maggie," the woman called softly, hoping the girl would hear her. Love was not her element, by any means, but she remembered her own mother coaching her through her own Awakening.

The little blonde turned toward the Senshi, her entire body pulsating with raw magic, held back only by the quickly-fading will of its mistress. Her screams had become whimpers as the girl clamped her mouth shut so she could hear the Ten'nousei Queen.

"Say the first words that come into your mind. Force your magic out a specific part of your body. It'll hurt, but the hurt will be better than this," the Queen of Ten'ousei ordered, not unkindly, as the magical wind died down, still holding all doors shut.

The young girl nodded, the tears streaming down her face absorbing tiny bits of her magic before evaporating.

"Amoursike," Maggie whispered, one hand reaching out towards Sailor Uranus as though for help.

The Senshi dove out of the way as the blazing, raw, golden magic congealed into a tiny, compressed, scarlet heart in the young Guardian's palm and rushed towards Sailor Uranus, growing larger and larger as it distanced itself from its mistress.

There was a tremendous crash a moment later and then the Senshi of Wind felt a rumbling beneath her as the floor shook beneath the forces of the wall collapsing.

After waiting a few agonizing minutes to make sure nothing else would fall and to let the dust clear, the woman stood up and made her way over to the unconscious girl, lying eagle-spread upon the crystal floor.

Thankfully—or, unthankfully, depending on how you looked at it—, the only reaction in their portion of the extremely long hallway to the release of the Kinsei girl's magic was shaking floors and a bit of dust.

Before touching the child or attempting to pick her up, Sailor Uranus visually checked to see if Maggie had injured herself. When she saw nothing and it became obvious that the girl's magic had once again become dormant, the Senshi detransformed, scooped up the girl, and began to trot in the direction of the infirmary.

Halfway down another corridor, a worrisome thought struck her.

_Where were the Dosei twins?_

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Saturn could feel herself beginning to panic, although she wasn't sure why. The fact that her sister was at her feet, curled up in a ball and crying was not _quite_ enough to make her go into full panic-mode, though it was more than enough cause for concern and a bit of fear.

"Titan?" she asked, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her shaking baby sister. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"You love me, right, 'A'er?" Titan asked, panic evident in her face and voice as she looked up at her sister. "You _do_ love me, right?"

"Of course I love you," murmured Saturn, giving her sister a tight hug. "I'll _always_ love you. No matter what happens, okay?"

"Forever and ever and ever?" whispered the younger twin, some of the panic leaving, though she still shook with fear.

"Forever and ever and ever and ever," promised Saturn, kissing her sister's forehead. "Better than anybody or anything else."

"Good," Titan sighed, relaxing slightly as she putt her head down on her sister's shoulder and snuggling close. "That's good." Titan knew on one level that it was Maggie's magic that was making her suddenly so insecure and frightened that her sister didn't love her, but on another level… she was just so _scared_.

"Sweetie, I'll always love you," her big sister whispered. "Now and forever and ever and ever. Nobody and nothing can _ever_ make me stop loving you, okay? Nobody. You're the bestest person in the whole universe _and_ the bestest sister. I love you, sweetie. I love you." Saturn repeated the whole thing over and over again until Titan stopped shaking and hugged her back.

"I'm okay now," Titan whispered, looking up at her sister. "Not scared anymore."

But when Saturn let go and began to stand up, Titan discovered that she was still very much afraid. With a cry of terror, she wrapped her arms back around her sister and held on tight, preventing Saturn from standing up and leaving her.

"Sweetie?" asked Saturn in confusion as she sat back down on the hard floor. "I thought you said you were okay. What's wrong?"

"Not okay," bawled Titan, shaking her head before burying it in her sister's chest again. "Not okay. Stay, 'A'er! Don't go 'way! Stay with me!"

"I'll stay," Saturn promised. "I'll stay. I'm not going anywhere without you. I'm staying, okay? I'm not going away." Titan kept crying, but her grip slackened a bit. That was when Saturn felt Titan yanking on her (Saturn's) magic, trying to pull it out to do something. "Sweetie," Saturn asked softly. "What are you doing?"

"Nest," her baby sister whispered. "I wanna nest. Will you make me a nest, 'A'er? It just gets floppy and tangled if I try. Please?"

Well, that explained why Titan kept grabbing her magic. "Okay, Titan," her sister murmured. "I'll make you a nest. But you have to hold still. And _no_ grabbing my magic while I'm making it, okay?"

"Okay," Titan promised glumly. A few months ago, when Titan had had a really bad nightmare and Saturn had been on Dosei, Saturn had figured out how to make what Titan had decreed was a nest. First, Saturn would reach along their bond to figure out exactly where Titan was if they were separated. Then, she usually would give Titan a few thin strands of her magic to hold onto while she began forming and weaving a nest around Titan until it completely encased the younger girl's magic. The more scared Titan was at the time, the thicker the nest had to be. Within the nest, Titan felt safe and secure and was of the opinion that no one could hurt her.

_Here,_ Saturn said through their magic. Titan reached into her own magic and could see the three, thin, wiggling cords of her big sister's magic that she was being offered. Quickly grabbing and pulling them close, Titan felt Saturn beginning to build the nest.

_Thank you,_ she whispered.

_Welcome,_ Saturn replied. _But after I make the nest, we're gonna need to go check on Maggie, okay? We can't just sit here on the floor._

_Okay_, Titan agreed unhappily. She was not unhappy that they were going to check on her friend; it was the fact that she wouldn't get to stay curled up in her sister's lap and be told stories until someone came through the hall and decided that they needed to leave. _But afterwards do I get hugs and kisses and stories?_ she asked hopefully.

_Yep,_ her big sister replied with a mental laugh. _As many as you want._

Content with that answer, Titan relaxed and let Saturn finish making the nest.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

Queen Serenity swept down the hall, moving as fast as she could without actually running. She had just received the news that little Maggie's powers had awakened and the girl was unconscious. If it had been a Senshi whose powers had just revealed themselves, she would not be feeling nearly so frightened. A four-year-old, one who would _never_ become a Senshi, no matter the circumstances, had summoned her powers and lost control, showing far more power than her cousin, the one who would later be a true Senshi. If Maggie's powers were typical of the other Guardians-in-training, then the Guardians were more powerful than their relatives who had received the blessings of the stars themselves. The Senshi of a planet was supposed to be the strongest in terms of magic, for a number of reasons. If someone decided they did not like the Senshi, she would have to be able to protect herself and keep from being killed or even badly maimed. If others with magic could overthrow a Senshi, then what good was the star's blessing? What good were the Senshi, who were so often the peacekeepers of their star system, rather than just the planet? The High Queen hoped and prayed the Guardians-in-training would never be of the mind to overthrow the Senshi, but she was going to do some serious rewriting of those vows the girls would take to become full Guardians. Just in case, of course. _None of the girls are like that,_ she kept telling herself.

_But what about when they grow up?_ an insidious voice whispered back. _Children change as they grow up._

Unable to deal with the doubts, the High Queen turned her thoughts towards Maggie's physical condition. A Senshi's Awakening left her body with no energy whatsoever and vulnerable to her own magic and its possibility for injury towards its bearer. _It would be best to expect the same for Maggie, if only due to the girl's sheer strength,_ Serenity reasoned. _At least it was only _one_ hallway she decimated. It could have been much worse._ With these reassuring thoughts in mind, Serenity entered the infirmary.

"How is the little Kinsei princess?" she asked a nurse, taking care to appear perfectly calm and in control.

"She's asleep and wrapped in Shields of Sailor Uranus's making, Majesty," the nurse replied deferentially, curtsying. "It's quite cute, actually, if you don't mind my saying so, Queen."

"I don't mind. She doesn't seem like the caring type, does she?" Serenity answered absently. "All the better. Which bed is she in?"

"We're over here behind the curtain, Serenity," Aeolus called from out of sight before the nurse could answer. "Maggie's looks pretty good, actually."

The High Queen glided through the curtain blocking off a corner of the room and over to the very corner where the younger Kinsei princess lay, guarded by a Senshi. The little girl was fast asleep, blonde hair framing her young face, with no evidence of her powers behind a gently-pulsing light on her forehead.

"It beats with her heart," Aeolus explained, seeing her Queen's odd look. "Can you make out the actual symbol? I couldn't and neither could any of the Healers or nurses."

"It seems like a crescent moon and the Kinsei symbol together," Serenity admitted slowly, peering closer at the girl's forehead for a better look. "But there's no reason for her to have any power of the Moon. Her bloodline is Kinsei, through and through."

"Perhaps it just means she'll be loyal to you, that her magic is tied into the protection of your daughter?" the Wind Senshi suggested.

The Queen glared at her friend. "Is everyone to know I'm pregnant with a girl before me?" she demanded. "First Titan this morning, now you! I haven't even run a test yet! How am I supposed to know?"

Aeolus smirked and motioned to one of the nurses. "The High Queen requests a pregnancy scan run on herself," she informed the brunette that hurried over as Serenity was struck speechless. She allowed herself a smirk as Serenity was led away by the nurse, ineffectively protesting. Titan had told her earlier that her Queen was pregnant and Saturn had backed up her sister's words.

As though called by her thoughts, the twins came through the curtain and looked down at their friend.

"She's okay, right?" Saturn asked, sounding distracted. Aeolus was surprised to note that there were traces of tears on Titan's face and that Saturn was being more protective than usual of her "baby sister."

"She's fine," Aeolus assured them. "Her magic just woke up, so she's sleeping off the effects. She'll just be a bit sleepy when she wakes up, that's all." Titan nodded, reaching out with one finger to touch the symbol on Maggie's head. Aeolus realized the intent too late to stop the contact.

There was a quick pulse of gold and violet light that filled their corner of the room so long as the two girls remained in physical contact, blinding everyone momentarily.

"What did you do?" the Senshi demanded softly as her sight slowly returned. She didn't enjoy surprises, especially ones of a magical nature.

"I didn't do anything!" Titan shrieked hysterically, rendering Aeolus mute with shock. "I didn't do it! I'm not bad! I didn't do it!"

"Calm down, sweetie," Saturn whispered soothingly, holding Titan close as the girl turned into her sister's embrace, still babbling and hysterical. "Try to calm down, okay? You're not bad; you're a very good girl. You're my baby sister and I love you. You're not bad. Maggie was mean to make you feel like a bad girl. Nobody's mad at you. You're a very good girl. I love you. It's okay, sweetie. It's okay. Nobody's mad. I love you." Slowly, though much faster than back in the hallway, Titan calmed herself down, listening to her sister's soothing voice. 'A'er was here, holding her, so everything was okay. Nothing bad could happen with 'A'er holding her.

"Good girl?" Titan repeated hopefully. She liked hearing that she was special.

"The very bestest of the bestest," her sister agreed, at ease now that Titan was calm and smiling again. "No more getting scared today, okay? Nobody will get mad at you or be mean." Titan nodded her assent to this plan, still keeping her back to the others and wrapped in her sister's arms. Saturn took a moment to ascertain that Titan really _was_ all right before turning her attention to Aeolus. "I think we should leave," she said. "Maggie's asleep, so we'd just be in the way if we stayed. Bye." Before the blonde could do more than open her mouth, the twins had vanished through the curtain and were gone from the infirmary altogether.

"Is Saturn Titan's sister or mother?" she couldn't help but ask the empty air.

**±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±—±**

**AN:** I am SO SORRY!!! I made you all wait over a year for this piece! But tell me what you think, please! Things I should have put in this chapter, things I should have left out, what can be improved, etc, please!


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